Help with a change of car.

Before I got my Gothilda, who has a 2.3 litre turbo petrol engine, I had a french thing (Laguna) which had a 1.6 litre normally aspirated engine. The two cars never met except after the french thing had carc'ed it and lay rotting in my garden, but I know that if they'd raced each other in any type of race, be it 100m drag race, on a track with actual bends, on a poor surface or any other situation, old Gothilda the Nordic battle vixen would have blasted that french baguette. In terms of fuel consumption, without doubt old Gothilda is more thirsty, but but any luggage in and the difference rapidly goes away. Gotty seems to perform exactly the same no matter how much weight she is carrying. In any case when it is just me in an otherwise empty car, urban mpg was 30 vs 23 and combined is like 35 vs 27 so not that big a difference. Yet both cars had the same tax bill (granted because they were registered before the 2001 rule change), the french loaf had a much, much higher maintenance bill being almost constantly poorly with one ailment or another. And as for insurance, well the garlic baguette had 'sport' in its name, so was insurance group 12, compared to Gothilda who is group 8 or 9, so much, much lower insurance.

Over the years I've found that bigger cars often work out cheaper to keep than smaller ones, because although they use a bit more juice, often they are built of sterner stuff so consume the miles much better. With the exception of tyres which seem to be disproportionately expensive as the size goes up, parts are generally little more expensive on the larger car and last longer, and labour doesn't really change.

 

Not even trying yet........... First service on a Bugatti Veyron is £11000!!!! That is basically change some oil and kick the tyres after 1000km. I probably over-simplify a bit, but however you look at it, eleven grand for a service?

 

Goodness Sheal, I cannot believe the replies here and I hope you have found something suitable to your requirements ... xx

 

I think you must have had a 'bad' car with the Laguna Clueless. We're currently on our fifth Renault, a Clio having owned three others and a Megane and not one has let us down. Our present Clio is a 1.2 turbo, petrol and we're getting 56/58mpg from it, surely that can't compare to a bigger car, in fact I know it can't from the way we had to feed the 2.0 Megane and insure it. No, there is no way we'll go back to a bigger car, being on the verge of retirement as well we don't need it and don't want the cost of running it. As I said earlier, it'll be an A to B car that we buy.

 

The madness of modern cars is the running costs. Rubber bands for tyres are never going to be cheap.
A fuel filter for the latest Fiesta diesel is now over sixty quid! Rear brake calipers for a Passat (with electric handbrake) are about six hundred quid a side! However, a sump plug for a Mercedes C63 is £1.32, so just because something has an expensive name it doesn't always follow that all the parts are dear.

 

With respect I think it's a case of boys and their toys. It doesn't make sense that a bigger car will be cheaper to run, in all respects, petrol, parts, tax, insurance etc. We need a car that is going to pull itself up the side of a mountain (via a road of course) to get my husband to work and back, that's all. A bigger car will definitely drink more in the process because it's heavier for one thing.

We will start looking this weekend Victoria.

 

Good for you ... Toys for Boys is Toys for Boys not Work Horses ... we have a Toys for Girls and a Work Horse for Boys ... ... I do hope you find what you are looking for ... xx

 

Nope!

Example - Mercedes S320 (3.2 litre six cylinder) is less economical day to day than a S500 (5 litre eight cylinder) as the larger engine does it all with far less effort.

So whilst a one litre buzz box is on paper more economical than its 1.4 litre brother, in the real world it probably will use more fuel and ultimately do less trouble free miles.
Clearly there is a line though.

A diesel will probably be a better bet for your needs, but if I were buying a modern car for myself I would shy away from modern diesels on reliability grounds.

I am coming to the conclusion that a new car today has a life expectancy of eight to ten years.

 

I understand the comparison you're trying to make Longk but petrol aside we don't want to pay the tax hike or the insurance on the bigger engines. There are 'swings and roundabouts' with whatever we buy and we'll way up everything when we find something that interests us. We would prefer petrol to diesel but we'll see what's around, the island has it's limitations with everything, so we'll start with our dealer friend and see what he suggests.